Page 59 of Iron Shield
Rome tensed as O walked past him, leaving them alone.
Cannon eyed him. “Tell me what’s going on between you and Stina.”
“Tell me what’s going on between you and Rorke.”
He didn’t blink an eye. “Negative. And that wasn’t a request, Rome.”
He drew up to his full height. “You assigned me to protect her. I’m trying to do that.”
Cannon watched him for an endless minute before he gave him a nod. “That’s it.”
He shot out the door before Cannon could find another reason to call him back.
When he reached Stina’s door, her room was dark. He knocked once, and when she didn’t answer he took the risk of having a boot hurled at his head and eased the door open.
The lamp on the side table was burning, throwing a low amber glow across the empty bed.
His brows pinched, but he automatically swung toward his own door. Pushing it inward, he held his breath.
She was asleep in his bed.
The breath he’d been holding without even knowing it trickled from his chest.
He stood in the doorway, studying her. She was curled on her side facing him, dark hair spread across his pillow, wearing plaid flannel pants that looked too big for her, rolled at the bottoms. Her top was just as large, slipping off one sexy shoulder.
The knot in his chest loosened.
Silently, he closed the door and bent to take off his boots. He set them by the door, at the ready if the alarm sounded and he had to deploy.
He stripped to his boxer briefs and slipped into bed beside her. She stirred, pressing back against him, and her breathing evened out again.
Several minutes passed where he just held her. He was glad she could sleep, but his mind was too wakeful, working through what Cannon and O just told him. The man Stina dumped pizza on had been using a voice modulator similar to the one the terrorist Cipher used before.
Any thought of the terrorist’s name connected with Stina’s made his fists clench in cold fury.
She shifted in her sleep, and her hand found his arm. She wrapped her fingers around his wrist, holding on even in unconsciousness.
His heart flexed.
Why did she end up here? She must have been upset and come looking for him. When she couldn’t find him, she sought comfort in his bed.
And he didn’t know what the hell to do with that.
He pressed his lips to her curls and let his brain continue to whirl long into the night.
When his phone buzzed with a summons to the war room, he knew without being able to see beyond the concrete walls that it was around dawn.
He eased his arm out from under Stina, moving slow so he didn’t wake her. She made a small sound and reached back, found his pillow and pulled it against her chest instead.
He stood beside the bed, pulling on a clean pair of black pants and a black T-shirt, staring at her beautiful face.
Even in sleep, her brow was creased. Probably arguing with him in her dreams.
He put on his boots and hurried out.
The meeting was already in full swing when he walked in. Coffee cups were scattered down the table, and Townie was working through his first English muffin of the morning.
Rome dropped into the chair at the far end of the table and picked up the thread of their briefing.
